Written by Paul Cornell
Illustrated by Scott McDanielThe Absence has come for Batman and Robin, and, as they hear the tale in a burning church, our heroes start to realize the scale of the horror they’re protecting Bruce Wayne from. The Absence is on a mission, and it can only end in fire and destruction.
I’ll admit that while I was definitely excited about the fact that Paul Cornell would be penning three filler issues of Batman and Robin in between the magnificent Grant Morrison run on the book and the upcoming Tomasi/Gleason era, I was also pretty hesitant. After all, Tomasi and Gleason had two issues solicited before it was revealed that they needed more time before the start of their run, and the Cornell run was announced a little under a month before the first issue landed. In comics, that implies an extreme short turnaround on these issues. As magnificent a wordsmith as Cornell is, even the best writers can falter under extreme deadlines.
Mercifully, this worry was not necessary. Click below to find out why.
I have to say, it took me all of last issue and half of this one to realize one simple fact: Paul Cornell is not trying to write Batman and Robin…Paul Cornell is trying to write GRANT MORRISON writing Batman and Robin. I mean, seriously? An ex-lover of Bruce Wayne getting shot in the head and not dying because of some mysterious medical condition that allows her to survive and think WITHOUT A BRAIN hunting down other Wayne ex-girlfriends with a giant pair of scissors? If the Doom Patrol was hunting her down and not the Dark Knight and Boy Wonder, I would be completely unsurprised. That, by the way, is pretty much the core of story being told here, as we learn not only who Una Nemo was, why she’s pissed, what happened to her, how it happened and what her true motives are, and I won’t lie to you I am very intrigued. I could so easily see The Absence (the name chosen for herself) entering the hallowed ranks of Batman’s legendary rogues gallery as the supreme level of her psychosis and her direct connection to Bruce Wayne put her right in line with the likes of The Joker, Poison Ivy and Scarecrow. Sadly, she may just fade into obscurity after the next issue wraps up Cornell’s run, but I’ll be one of the louder voices saying the potential is there.
And the main reason that potential is there is because Cornell is a goddamn super villain genius. The man has created his own fair share of characters in his time, but the richness and genuine originality behind them has always set them a cut above, and that trend continues now with Una Nemo.
That having been said, while my worry about the issue being rushed was unnecessary in regard to Cornell’s writing, Scott McDaniel’s art leaves a lot to be desired; to say it was rushed would be a complete understatement. His lines are often blurry and badly composed, his characters are horribly constructed and his facial expressions are usually bland and baseless at BEST and at worst, completely out of sync with the scene at hand (namely the one larger panel of Alfred towards the end of the issue.)
Overall, the strength of the story and the character development is enough to overtake the sub-par art in this case, but if the interior art matched the strength of the covers, this mini-arc could truly excel.
Final Verdict: 8.7 – Buy
